Amateur raidio operators test skills during national amatueur radio field day event

 

When: From 11am Saturday June 22, 2013, to 11am Sunday June 23, 2013

Where: Redmond Fire Station 17, 16917 NE 116 ST, Redmond WA 98052

 

Have you ever thought about how difficult it would be to coordinate emergency services without electricity, phone lines, Internet, or cell phones?

 

The City of Redmond has. This is why Mayor John Marchione is proclaiming the week of June 16-23, 2013 as Amateur Radio Week in Redmond, in recognition of the valuable public service that Redmond amateur radio operators provide to the community.  Read More >>

 

The proclamation is made in conjunction with Amateur Radio Field Day, which will take place from 11:00 AM on Saturday June 22 to 11:00 AM on Sunday June 27. Radio operators (or hams) from the City of Redmond’s Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) team will gather to set up radio communications equipment at Redmond Fire Station 17 (16917 NE 116 ST, Redmond) and test their communications capabilities during a simulated emergency situation.

 

The event is part of a nationwide “Field Day” operations activity sponsored and coordinated by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the National Association for Amateur Radio.  ARRL Field Day is the single most popular on-the-air event held annually in the US and Canada. On the fourth weekend of June of each year, more than 35,000 radio amateurs gather with their clubs, groups or simply with friends to operate from remote locations and to learn to operate in abnormal situations in less than optimal conditions.

 

The Redmond ARES event is open to the public. The team will have a “Get on the Air” (GOTA) station where anyone, under the supervision of licensed radio operators, can try to make contact with hams from other parts of the country and the world.

 

Local hams who are interested in a unique public service opportunity can find out more about the City of Redmond’s ARES team at http://redmond-ares.org.

Today there are more than 710,000 Amateur Radio operators in the United States, and more than 2.5 million worldwide. To find out how to get started in this exciting hobby and whom to contact in your area, contact ARRL, the National Association for Amateur Radio, at http://arrl.org, or call 1-860-594-0200.